Childhood
Piazza was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, the second-oldest son of Vince and Veronica, with brothers Vince, Jr., Danny, Derek, Tony, and Tommy. He is of Italian and Jewish ancestry respectively. Vince Piazza earned a fortune of more than $100 million in used cars and real estate, and attempted several times to purchase a Major League Baseball franchise. When the Dodgers—managed by Vince Piazza's childhood friend Tommy Lasorda, Tony Piazza's godfather—visited Philadelphia, Piazza visited the Dodger clubhouse and served as a batboy in the dugout.
Vince Piazza's own hopes of playing baseball had ended at the age of 16 when he left school to support his family. He saw that Mike Piazza had potential in the sport, and began encouraging his son to build his arm strength at the age of five. When he was 12, Piazza received personal instruction in his backyard batting cage from Ted Williams. The Hall of Famer praised his talent, advised him not to let anyone change his swing, and autographed Piazza's copy of Williams' The Science of Hitting. Vince Piazza threw hundreds of pitches nightly to his son, who shared his father's focus on baseball, clearing snow if necessary to practice his hitting and, after reaching the major leagues, practicing on Christmas Eve. He attended Phoenixville Area High School and graduated in 1986.
Read more about this topic: Mike Piazza
Famous quotes containing the word childhood:
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)
“Modern children were considerably less innocent than parents and the larger society supposed, and postmodern children are less competent than their parents and the society as a whole would like to believe. . . . The perception of childhood competence has shifted much of the responsibility for child protection and security from parents and society to children themselves.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Sensible people get the greater part of their own dying done during their own lifetime. A man at five and thirty should no more regret not having had a happier childhood than he should regret not having been born a prince of the blood.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)